File#: 12600327 Opening Date: 9/16/2025
Request for Qualifications Evaluation Committee Report
COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
RUTH F. QUINTO, CPA – Assistant City Manager, Office of the Mayor & City Manager NICK MASCIA – Assistant City Manager, Office of the Mayor & City Manager JENNIFER RUIZ – Deputy City Manager, Office of the Mayor & City Manager BRIAN BARR – Director, General Services Department
CLIFFORD TRAUGH – Assistant Director, General Services Department VIKKIE CALEDERON – Airport Marketing/PR Coordinator
TAMMY TOWNSEND – Community Member
FACILITATOR:
JENNIFER RUIZ – DEPUTY CITY MANAGER
BACKGROUND:
The City solicited proposals from qualified private management firms for the operation and promotion of the Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center (FCEC). It is the City's desire to find a firm that can deliver a broad array of cultural, educational, entertainment, sporting, meeting, conferenc e, and exhibition activities to provide a wide variety of events for the region’s residents while maximizing the event mix to optimize revenues available for reinvestment in the facility. The City has an existing contract for management services of the FCEC, however, it ‘s original term expired in June 2025 and was extended to December 31, 2025 to allow additional time for the bidding process.
The City advertised on Planet Bids on August 20, 2025. At the conclusion of the RFP opening, four proposers submitted proposals as follows:
1. VenueWorks
2. Legends Global (formerly ASM)
3. The Sport Facilities Company
4. Oak View Group
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
RFQ Release: 8/20/2025
Opening: 9/16/2025
Committee Evaluation: September 17 – 26th, 2025
Proposer Interviews: September 29th – October 10th, 2025 Final Committee Selection: VenuWorks
File#: 12600327 Opening Date: 9/16/2025
EVALUATION CRITERIA AS LISTED IN THE RFQ:
1. Qualifications
2. City objectives
3. Demonstrated experience and understanding of the local demographics
4. Community expectations
5. Regional tourism dynamics
6. Financial capacity and soundness
7. Timeframe of the development Response
8. Capacity to perform the proposed development within the timeframe
9. Any other factors, whether quantifiable or not
EVALUATION COMMITTEE NOTES:
VENUEWORKS
VenuWorks proposes to partner with ATG Entertainment to achieve the goals of the City of Fresno’s Fresno Convention and Ente rtainment Center (FCEC). This strong partnership offers Fresno the benefit of th e expertise of both companies: VenueWorks, which specializes in small to m edium-sized event venues, and ATG Entertainment, an international corporation that specializes in theater management. This partnership resulted from feedback issued to ATG during the first RFP bidding round earlier this year, which the committee felt indicated responsivene ss and innovation that is required for FCEC.
The company presented as a professional and strong team that is very experienced in the event center management and the theater industry. VenueWorks has an employee- owned business model and represented their leadership as “servant leadership”. They demonstrated creative and innovative models of doing business in the other venues they manage and provided specific well-researched ex amples of events they would look to bring to FCEC. Despite their Executives not being local residents, the committee felt that they clearly knew and understood Fresno and therefore demonstrated their interest in this market and community.
The committee also discussed that VenuWorks seems to be a large enough company to contain the necessary experience and capac ity to manage FCEC well, but not so large that Fresno would not be a priority for them. VenueWorks demonstrated their willingness to prioritize Fresno by being the only bidd er to attend their interview in person and by being available for every foll ow-up call with the committee even when notice was short.
Their responsiveness during the bidding proc ess was unparallel with the other bidders.
The company also made a point to communicate a commitment to transparency and the sharing of data to ensure the City has the information necessary to make good decisions for FCEC in the future.
File#: 12600327 Opening Date: 9/16/2025
LEGENDS GLOBAL
The company is the current contract ho lder and does demonstrate that it has the corporate infrastructure necessary to manage the facility as it has been doing so for over 15 years. The committee was pleased that the company made some adjustments to their proposal based on feedback from the first RFP bidding round earlier in the year. However, the committee’s primary concern is that many of the company’s statements sounded as if they were proposing to serve the community for the first time. The ideas they proposed to improve attendance and increase events at FCEC could have been implemented at any point in the recent years, however, the company has operated status quo and originally proposed to continue to do so until the City’s second bidding process this year.
The committee discussed that FCEC continues to lose events that are instead held at the Save Mart Center in Clovis, which is also managed by Legends Global, despite some of the committee members having first-ha nd experience of attendance being low enough that half of the venue was covered with drapes so as not to appear empty. Smaller-sized events are clearly a better fit for FCEC given seating capacity of both venues. The committee discussed that FCEC did not seem to be a priority venue for the company, and their proposal did not make it evident that would change in the future.
THE SPORTS FACILITIES COMPANY
The company demonstrated a strong administr ative corporate framework to support the network of venues that they currently manag e. The committee’s primary concern is that the company is almost exclusively focused on sports facilities and had few examples of the other high-profile events despite th e committee’s feedback in this regard. The committee discussed that it thought a greater focus on sporting events could be a benefit for FCEC and surrounding business community, however, the company did not offer enough assurances nor examples that it could produce in areas beyond sports.
OAK VIEW GROUP
The company demonstrated a strong administrative corporate framework to support the network of venues that they currently manage. However, they did not demonstrate that they had a deep enough understanding of Fresno to offer innovative or well-researched ideas about how to improve business at FCEC. The company manages many venues, and it was not clear to the committee how Fresno would be prioritized among their portfolio nor was there any compelling strategy offered that would benefit FCEC more than the current management arrangement. Additionally, the company failed to address recent public news reports about their CEO stepping down this year after his indictment.
File#: 12600327 Opening Date: 9/16/2025
SUMMARY RECOMMENDATION
The committee unanimously recommends awarding the Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center (FCEC) contract to VenueWorks for the reasons noted above.
File#: 12600327 Opening Date: 9/16/2025
Evaluation Committee Sign-Off
The following Evaluation Committee voting members have read the enclosed report and concur with the findings as written:
_________________________ _________________________
RUTH F. QUINTO, CPA NICK MASCIA
Assistant City Manager Assistant City Manager
Office of the Mayor & City Manager Office of the Mayor & City Manager
_________________________ _________________________
JENNIFER RUIZ BRIAN BARR
Deputy City Manager Director
Office of the Mayor & City Manager General Services Department
_________________________ _________________________
CLIFFORD TRAUGH VIKKIE CALDERON
Assistant Director Airport Marketing/PR Coordinator General Services Department
_________________________
TAMMY TOWNSEND
Community Member